Are you ‘just getting on with the job at hand’ too much to consider where your career is going and, more importantly what’s holding it back?
Whatever the reasons for a dead-ending career, the important thing is to recognise only you can turn it around. If you’re making some of the following career-limiting mistakes, it’s time to do a u-turn.
1. Staying with a loser company /going-nowhere boss /dead-end division
US-based former senior executive and writer, Steve Tobak, makes an important point when he says you need to think of employers as business opportunities. If your company, your boss or your department is going anywhere it’s time to leave. Trusting that your employer will take care of you is naive and short-sighted– if you want your career to go in a particular direction, you need to take it there, and you need to be part of a winning team to get there.
2. Not making yourself visible
If you want to get noticed make sure you’re in the spotlight. That might mean pushing your way there. Early on in his career Tobak realised that no one knew what he was working on, so he targeted high visibility projects. Doing great work won’t help you if nobody sees what you’re achieving.
3. Thinking you deserve more
Having a high sense of self-worth is important but don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re somehow being shortchanged. “You’re entitled to what you earn. No more, no less,” says Tobak. There’s a difference between making people aware of your value and being a self-entitled whiner.
4. Not taking enough risks
True career growth lies outside your comfort zone so take risks. “If you take more when you’re younger, you won’t have to take so many when you’re older,” says Tobak
